All of these campaigns are non–linear, offering branch point options after every battle which increases the overall replay value of the title. Please note, however, that there are also non–historical engagements. Don’t expect to work with the historical orders of battle for each side, for there are rigid replacement schedules and all the other logistical devices that tweak the hearts of grognards everywhere. As with the other titles in the series, Scorched Earth has a closer kinship to board games such as Axis and Allies from Milton Bradley than it does to conventional wargames like Avalon Hill’s Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

Players start with a core group of leaders, each of whom specializes in commanding a given unit type (ie: infantry, tank, artillery, fighters, bombers and so forth), and has or may develop certain bonus abilities relative to that formation. For example, tank commanders can learn to put their formations hull down, which reduces their exposure to enemy fire; anti–tank leaders can learn how to set up ambushes for bonus–to0hit capability; and so on. Leaders are ranked from two to five stars, based upon their cumulative skill and combat experience. The higher the ranking, the more actions that each can perform in a given turn. Over the course of a campaign, players earn promotions that can be used to raise these rankings, and leaders can also be spot promoted on occasion during a mission for a particularly noteworthy achievement.

Forces are built around these leaders at the beginning of each mission from a pool of available units. The default surviving formations from the previous mission are loaded initially, but players are under no obligation to retain all or even any of them for the current mission. Those rotated off the line, as it were, suffer no penalties and can be brought back to combat status complete with all experience at any time subsequently, as long as an open slot exists for them (ie: one is not already fielding the maximum number of units allowed for the current scenario). When a unit is destroyed in battle, it will not return to the force pool, although MIA leaders sometimes will. Equipment is replaced or new equipment made available at preset times within the campaign tree and players cannot control these events, so manage resources wisely and do not waste top of the line equipment on inexperienced leaders who cannot use it to its full potential.

Veterans of this game series will find that, contrary to what has been printed in some other reviews of this game, the AI combat routines have been improved in Scorched Earth. The Soviet AI opponent will defend in depth, with mutually supporting artillery batteries, heavily entrenched units, air defense and a mobile reserve that capably moves up to plug gaps and also retake objective hexes when the opportunity permits. Additionally, when it is tactically advantageous to do so, AI controlled units now sometimes employ hit and run to force Axis players to decide between pressing an advance with increasingly depleted units and risking their destruction or pausing for a turn to refit them and potentially not achieving the victory objectives before the end of the scenario. In fact, accomplishing the latter is definitely more challenging in Scorched Earth than in prior titles in the series.

Just as occurred in real life, geography and climate play huge roles in determining the outcome of these battles. Objectives are often widely spaced on the frozen tundra of Mother Russia, unlike the tightly packed terrain of Western Europe. Adroit Panzer Commanders must race to their objectives, often outstripping their supporting arms units in the process. Airpower must be used to soften objectives instead of artillery and anything that is not mechanized or at least self–propelled is a waste of a unit slot. Promoting leaders is critical to obtain additional actions per turn. When armor reaches an objective city, use it to destroy enemy armor, artillery and air defense units in support of the entrenched infantry in the city, then move on to the next objective. Allow the artillery and infantry formations that are lagging behind to mop up the enemy infantry and actually capture the objective. Do not get sidetracked into side engagements or non–critical objective hexes or it will be nearly impossible to achieve the major victory conditions, if victory at all.

Some reviewers have commented negatively regarding the difficulty they experienced in winning these scenario designs. In reality, Scorched Earth forces a true Blitzkrieg approach, complete with all of the inherent dangers associated with coordinating widely dispersed formations across a broad front — the greater the qualitative or quantitative superiority that one enjoys, the easier it is to pull off. As something closer to parity begins to exist in one of both of these factors, as definitely occurred on the Eastern Front in late 1942, early 1943, if not sooner according to some accounts, true blitzkrieg becomes untenable. Unfortunately, the distances one must cover do not change, so Russia’s seemingly magical ability to absorb incredible damage over time and space and still bounce back effectively is well modeled within the game.